LaDainian Tomlinson crossed the goal line, rose from the turf and threw the football high into the air as he ran toward the sideline following his first-quarter touchdown Sunday afternoon.

Huh?

The man who after almost every one of his previous 135 career touchdowns simply handed the ball to the nearest official, showed uncharacteristic emotion, a peek at frustration that has been brewing for months.

Later, Philip Rivers would go ballistic on referee Mike Carey. After the game, Kassim Osgood would stop in his tracks on his way off the field to tell a shouting fan to shut up. Chris Chambers thinks the Chargers should throw downfield more. Tomlinson would like to run more, be more physical.

This, San Diego, is a team that has lost its direction.

“We're in a bind,” Rivers said. “We're not playing very good.”

Is it too crazy to come back from?

For this year, it almost certainly is. Denver's magic number is two, which means any combination of Broncos victories or Chargers losses adding up to two clinches the AFC West for the Broncos.

From the time they lost to Atlanta on Sunday through Monday night, the Chargers expressed something resembling shock that they are where they are – 4-8 in a season that was supposedly going to end at the Super Bowl in Tampa.

“There are a lot of guys dealing with this kind of season for the first time,” Rivers said. “You don't really know what it feels like.”

The larger question is whether this is a blip that will be rectified in a new year with a few new players (and one returning All-Pro linebacker), or is there a cancer that requires major surgery?

Optimistically, players roundly agreed the Chargers will rebound sharply in 2009. A few veterans said this might end up being good for a team full of players that have known only winning in the NFL. Of the 53 players on the roster, 33 have been with the Chargers since 2004 and no other NFL team before that. The Chargers have made the playoffs three of the past four seasons and went 9-7 in the other season.

One thing appears as certain as the day it was said two weeks ago: Whatever reclamation project needs to be done, Norv Turner will be involved.

“The head coach already has been addressed,” General Manager A.J. Smith said Monday.

No one is happy. Chargers Park is not a happy place to be.

It is not surprising on a team that is losing that a number of players on the roster are questioning the head coach – his play-calling and his leadership ability.

“When you're losing,” Rivers acknowledged Sunday night, “that happens. ... I don't think there is a problem, not at all.”

Players are also questioning each other.

According to multiple players, there is a lack of personal accountability in the locker room, with players pointing at other players and not so much at themselves. Some players have also said in conversations (in which they specified their thoughts could not be attributed to them publicly) that there are players that let the hype about how good they are go to their heads.